Maureen Connolly, Ed.D., is an associate professor of education at The College of New Jersey and a consultant for CBK Associates. She has also worked as an English teacher at Mineola High School in New York for 15 years and as the coordinator of service-learning grants for the New York Metropolitan Area. She is the author of several books, including Achieving Next Generation Literacy: Using the Tests (You Think) You Hate to Help the Students You Love (ASCD, 2016).

Vicky Giouroukakis, PhD, is a professor in the Division of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy, English education, and TESOL. Prior to her tenure at Molloy, Giouroukakis taught English at a public high school in Queens, New York, and ESL to adolescents and adults.

Giouroukakis is the coauthor of the Corwin best-seller Getting to the Core of English Language Arts, Grades 6–12: How to Meet the Common Core State Standards with Lessons from the Classroom and Getting to the Core of Literacy for History/ Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, Grades 6–12.

Her research and publications center on the topics of adolescent literacy, teacher education, cultural/linguistic diversity, and standards and assessment. She has been interested in standards and assessment and how they affect instructional practice ever since she began teaching.